Know All About Modified Bofors Guns to Killer Drones Deployed in Arunachal LAC

LAC

As the Border tension between India and China heightens, Indian Army deploy various weapons and artillery in forward areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh.

A mix of infantry, artillery, air defence, tanks and logistics units and the new set up has revamped the Indian Army’s war-fighting capabilities. Recently, the Indian Army Soldiers were also engaged in a drill showcasing how they would destroy armoured enemy targets with its advance ground defence. 

The Indian Army has placed multiple upgraded L70 anti-aircraft guns in the high mountains along the LAC with the already placed M-777 Howitzers and Swedish Bofors guns along the Indo-China borders in Arunachal LAC.

Now, let’s take a look at what these multiple upgrades could mean for the Indian side and the capabilities of these defense firepower.

M-777 Howitzers

The recently inducted M-777 howitzers and battle-proven Swedish Bofors artillery guns significantly enhanced the Indian Army’s overall defence in the LAC.

The guns can bring down all unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned combat aerial vehicles, attack helicopters and modern aircraft. 

The gun has enhanced target acquisition and automatic target tracking capability under all weather conditions with high-resolution electro-optical sensors comprising a daylight television camera, a thermal imaging camera and a laser range finder.

The gun is also equipped with a Muzzle Velocity Radar for enhancing the accuracy of fire and has the ability to be integrated with tactical and fire control radars which give it more flexibility in its deployment.

L70 Anti-aircraft Guns

Strengthening its fire power and combat capability, India has deployed upgraded L70 anti-aircraft guns along the LAC in Tawang sector.

The Zen-Anti Drone Air Defence Systems or ZADS variant is primarily a ‘soft kill’ system. It detects and jams radio frequency emissions from the drone between 10 metres and 10 kilometres. 

The system then passed target coordinates on to the L-70 gun through a customised hardware interface. The gun received the coordinates in ‘remote’ mode, aligned itself towards the target allowing the operator to lock on and fire. And all this in a matter of seconds. This system is more effective against swarm drones, because the upgraded gun can spew out predictive fire in the future position of the swarm, saturating the area with predictive fire.

Swedish Bofors Guns

The Bofors 40 mm gun, often referred as the Bofors gun, is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. It was one of the most popular medium-weight anti-aircraft systems during World War II, used by most of the western Allies.

India has a sizable number of Bofors howitzers in the eastern sector which have been the backbone of its fire power capability in the region. 

The Zen-Anti Drone Air Defence Systems or ZADS variant ordered by the IAF, is primarily a ‘soft kill’ system. It detects and jams radio frequency emissions from the drone between 10 metres and 10 kilometres. The firing trials in Gopalpur are the first use of it as a ‘hard kill’ system, where it physically destroys the drone.

Weaponized Attack Helicopters ‘Rudra’

Rudra is the first armed helicopter being produced indigenously in India. It is an attack helicopter manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Army. It is the Weapon System Integrated (WSI) Mk-IV variant of the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH). 

The Army has also raised its first ever dedicated Squadron of ‘Rudra’ Armed helicopters. It is the first Army Aviation aircraft to add ‘teeth’ to the fleet of Army Aviation with its Mistral Air-to-Air missiles, 70 mm Rockets, 20 mm Guns & ATGMs.

IAI Heron (Machatz-1)

The Army Aviation wing recently got Israeli made Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Heron I from Artillery in August. The IAI Heron (Machatz-1) is a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Malat (UAV) division of Israel Aerospace Industries. 

A sizable fleet of Israeli-made Heron medium-altitude long endurance drones is carrying out round-the-clock surveillance over the LAC in the mountainous terrain and sending crucial data and images to command and control centres.

BrahMos Missiles

The BrahMos has also been deployed in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. Deployment of BrahMos missiles, which have a range of over 290 km, gives the Army the ability to hit targets deep inside China in case of any Chinese misadventure in this sector.

The BrahMos (designated PJ-10) is a medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land. It is the fastest supersonic cruise missile in the world.

Multi-barrel Rocket Launch Systems 

In a rare demonstration, the Army showcased its Pinaka and Smerch units deployed on the Arunachal Pradesh-Assam border to a group of visiting journalists from Delhi.

The Smerch system is the longest range conventional rocket system in Indian army inventory having a maximum range of 90 Km. A battery of four launchers can fire a salvo of 48 rockets in 40 seconds neutralising an area of 1200m by 1200m. Pinaka is named after the bow of Lord Shiva.

A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are assembled onto a same platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a volley gun.

Rockets are self-propelled in flight and have different capabilities than conventional artillery shells, such as longer effective range, lower recoil, typically considerably higher payload than a similarly sized gun artillery platform, or even carrying multiple warheads.

With these major development India’s military posture in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh has seen a huge facelift preparing for the future affairs with its Chinese counterpart.

For more Latest News Updates visit our website- https://www.eastnews.in/

For Arunachal Latest News updates Visit- https://www.eastnews.in/arunachal-pradesh-news/